Cold planers, sometimes called road mills or scarifiers, are work machines that are configured to mill a road surface. To this end, cold planers include a rotatable milling drum that is supported on a frame and can be brought into contact with the surface of the roadway. The milling drum removes a layer of the road surface. The cold planer further includes a conveyor connected to a frame of the machine and receives the material that was removed from the road surface and conveys the material to another vehicle, such as a dump truck, usually traveling next to the cold planer. In some instances it may be desirable to allow the conveyor to pivot relative to the machine frame in order to adjust the position of the conveyor. For example, it may be desired to feed the dump trucks which are located at the side of the cold planer as well as directly in front of it, and at various positions therebetween.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,919,526 (hereinafter referred to as '526 patent) describes a conveyor belt mounting for a charger that is used in road building, in order to supply a road-finishing machine with paving material. Using the slewing belt mounting, it is possible to achieve different discharge heights for the paving material. The slewing belt mounting comprises a cantilever arm, which is movably mounted on the frame of the charger, a pivot arm, which is pivotally connected to the cantilever arm, and a conveyor belt, which is connected to the pivot arm. The slewing belt mounting is characterized in that it comprises at least one lifting element, such as a hydraulic cylinder, cable winch, toothed rack, gear mechanism or the like, which is fastened by a first end to the frame and by a second end to the cantilever arm, wherein the cantilever arm is vertically adjustable by means of the lifting element.
Usually in such machines, the horizontal pivoting of the conveyor; or in other words, a rotational movement of the conveyor about a vertical axis relative to the frame of the machine, is provided using a pair of hydraulic cylinders that are connected to a forward end of the frame of the machine at respective first ends and to the conveyor at respective second ends. The simultaneous extension and retraction of these hydraulic cylinders causes the rotational movement of the conveyor about the vertical axis. These hydraulic cylinders are generally disposed angularly with respect to each other. This angular arrangement may not provide the most optimum cylinder geometry for providing the rotational movement of the conveyor. It may be contemplated that with such geometry, there is a possibility of differing cylinder travel velocities which could lead to uneven moment arms throughout the travel while causing situations where over-centering becomes an issue.